Page 38 - Electrostatics-11

© GC Shiba

Kinematics: Study of motion of a body without taking into account the cause
of motion.

Distance covered: The length of actual path travelled by a body in a given time is
called distance covered. It is a scalar quantity.

Displacement: The length of the vector from initial to final position of a body is
called displacement. It gives the shortest distance between two points. It is a vector

quantity.

Velocity: The time rate of change of displacement is called velocity of a body. It

is a vector quantity.

a) Average velocity: The ratio of total displacement to the time taken is called
average velocity.

=

a. Instantaneous velocity: The velocity of a body at particular instant of time is
called instantaneous velocity.
It is given by

∆
= lim ( )
∆→0 ∆

, =

Note: In case of uniform motion, the average velocity is equal to instantaneous

velocity.

Acceleration: The time rate of change of velocity of a body is called acceleration.
2
It is a vector quantity. Its SI unit is m/s .

Average acceleration:

− 1 ∆
2
= =
− 1 ∆
2

15 Mechanics